Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 5.djvu/79

 where women are and special prisons for women in charge of a matron have been established. On the whole we begin to see the glory of the rising sun which will give us in a little while the bright, clear day."

Miss Vida Goldstein, a delegate from Australia, began her address: "I am very proud that I have come here from a country where the woman suffrage movement has made such rapid strides. The note was first struck in America and yet women today are struggling here for what we have had in Australia for years, and we have proved all the statements and arguments against woman suffrage to be utterly without foundation. It seems incredible to us that the women here have not even the School and Municipal suffrage except in a very few States: We have had this for over forty years and we have never heard a word against it. It is simply taken as a matter of course that the women should vote. They say that as soon as women get this privilege they are going to lose the chivalrous attentions of men. Let me assure you that a woman has not the slightest conception of what chivalry means until she gets a vote." Miss Goldstein told of woman suffrage in New Zealand and produced the highest testimony as to its good results in both countries.

In closing the hearing Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, national vice president, said in part:

Our association desires you not only to report the resolution for this amendment favorably but to recommend the appointment of a committee to investigate this subject. Years ago when our women came before you we had nothing but theory to give you, what we believed would be the good results of woman suffrage if it were granted. The opponents had their theories and they stated the evils they believed would follow. The theory of one person is as good as that of another until it has been put to the test, but after that both sides must lay aside all theory and stand or fall upon facts. In four States women have the full suffrage. For more than thirty years they have been exercising it in Wyoming equally with men; in Colorado for nine years and in Utah and Idaho for six years. We do believe that from six to thirty years is long enough time to measure its effect. What we would like better than anything else is that Congress should appoint a committee of investigation, and that such a committee should investigate the result of woman suffrage in the States where it has already been granted.So sure are we its report would be favorable that we are perfectly willing to stake our future on it. While we do not claim that only good would